Lights and Shadows
by cmcg16
Summary: "Watch yourself, girl," the man said with disdain before taking a pull from his cigarette. Modern!AU SanSan. Also published as "Dead and Gone" over at GoT


**Rights go to GRRM. Enjoy!**

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Sansa Stark laced a string of pearls over her collarbone. Her father had given them to her this morning, wrapped in a dainty blue box and a silken white bow. She smiled at herself in the mirror as she remembered opening the small box, pushing away the crinkled wax paper to reveal the small white beads that lay inside.

_Thank you dad, they're lovely, _she had said. She could tell that he wasn't convinced by the unsure smile that flickered across his face. _I swear. Really, I love them. _She tiptoed to kiss his cheek and hugged him tightly. _I love you, _he had said.

And she truly did love them. The white circles almost glowed on her porcelain skin, accentuating her small collarbone. _I almost look like a woman now _she thought as she pushed a few of her fiery locks behind her. She took a minute to fully look at herself. She was tall for a 13-year-old girl – she had to walk to the middle of her bedroom just to fit her entire body in the frame of her full-length mirror. She wore a light blue dress that was modest enough for the daughter of Eddard Stark, Vice President of the United States of America, but that fit her well enough that Joffrey would surely take notice.

_Joffrey_. Just thinking of his name was enough to make her cheeks turn rosy and her breath quicken. She'd fallen in love with him the first time she saw him six nights ago. She remembered how everyone had screamed with delight when it was announced that Baratheon had won the election after a very close vote count, she remembered the tears of joy that spilled out of her mother's eyes as she kissed her father, she remembered Arya shooting her hands up into the air and running around the campaign room like an airplane, bringing fits of laughter to Bran and Rickon, she remembered the glasses of champagne sloshing around as people she'd never met before came up and hugged her. What she remembered most, however, was the blonde boy who came up to shake his father's hand in congratulations, his green eyes bright with pride. She had never seen anyone so beautiful in her life; she had known in that moment that she wanted to be his.

But she also knew that Joffrey was very popular, a very popular _senior_ at that. What 17-year-old boy would be interested in a girl who had just started her freshman year? Her mother always said she was the prettiest girl she'd ever known, but that was her mother saying that. That hardly counted. Looking in the mirror she couldn't find anything wrong with the way she looked, but everyone knew Joffrey only liked brunettes. All of his exes had beautiful dark hair and blue eyes. At least she had the eyes. That's why she had chosen the blue dress – it made her eyes look like the ocean. _Surely he must think my eyes are beautiful, at the least._

Her thoughts were interrupted by three loud knocks at her door. They were too heavy to be her mother's – her father must have arrived home early from work. She opened the door with a wide grin and blurted, "So, how do they look?"

Her face lost all color when the man at her door was not her father. _Definitely not my father, _she thought. Blonde, side swept hair. Blazing green eyes. Mischievous smile. _What is Joffrey Baratheon doing in my house? JOFFREY BARATHEON IS IN MY HOUSE! _She was so embarrassed she didn't even know how to react.

"Hello, how are you?" she asked politely, albeit a bit too quickly. _One should never forget their manners_, her mother always said. She felt her face turning the color of her hair. _Very smooth, Sansa._

"Hey, Sansa, right?" he said, hands deep in his pockets.

"Yup, that's me!" She giggled nervously. _Jesus, Sansa, you sound like an inane child. _

"Nice to meet you. Joffrey." He took one of his hands out of his suit pocket and extended it to her. She placed her hand in his and almost forgot to start shaking. Her face was still crimson.

"It's great to finally meet you, officially that is," she paused, smiling so he could see her teeth, "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?"

He began to laugh. If it were possible for her face to get any redder, it would have. She was about to clarify herself, when he put his hand on her bare shoulder. _He's touching my shoulder. Dear God._

"Sorry, I guess I should have explained that. Didn't mean to be awkward – or intrude or anything. My father sent a car over to pick you and your family up for dinner tonight. I decided to come along for the ride. Your mom let me in; I spoke with her for a bit. She needed to help your sister with something and she asked me to tell you to hurry up." He grinned.

"Oh, sorry I must have lost track of time! I didn't realize we were taking your father's car! I assumed we'd be driving ourse –"

"Safer this way," he said, cutting her off. She decided not to continue, and nodded. She knew what the press had said after Baratheon had won. The race was extremely close – many were outraged by his win. Rumors of assassination threats permeated the news. None that had any legitimacy, thank God, but they were enough to have the secret service alerted. _I guess my family is it at risk too…._

"Sansa!" Her mother's voice filled the hallway behind Joffrey. He spun around and stepped to the side, revealing her mother looking quite impatient. Sansa could tell she had forgotten that Joffrey was there because when she saw him her face lightened immediately and she lowered her voice.

"It's time to go, Joffrey's guards are looking a bit impatient. And it's 6:15, we're already late! I wonder if Robb and Jon are there yet," her eyes widened as she added, "Shit, where's the pie? Where is the pie?!" Joffrey looked back at Sansa and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, she's pretty much always like that," she responded. Joffrey laughed as they both left and walked through the hallway and down the stairs to the kitchen. Arya sat at the table, wearing a pink dress and a disgruntled look.

"Pink, Arya? Never knew you had it in you," Sansa joked, looking back at Joffrey. _That's what my mother must have been "helping" her with._

"Shut up, Sansa. Everyone knows you're wearing that stupid padded bra so stupid-face over there thinks you actually have boobs," she quipped.

Sansa's face returned to its previous red. "A-Arya! I am not!" Joffrey looked uncomfortable.

Thankfully her mother finally came downstairs before the conversation continued. "Not sure why this pie was in _Arya's _room," she made sure to give Arya a knowing look, "but I found it nonetheless. Now let's go."

Sansa followed her mother and her younger siblings, Joffrey behind her. Two black cars with American flags poking from the front and back sat in her driveway, two secret service agents standing by each. They were all dressed in black suits, with cropped hair that revealed wired earpieces. _This is real, I'm really the daughter of the Vice President, _she thought.

"Mrs. Stark, I've arranged to have an extra car for you and your family. If you like, Sansa, you can ride with me," Joffrey said with a smirk.

"Oh, that would be great!" Sansa said, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. As her mother and siblings made their way to the second car, Sansa followed Joffrey to the first. He opened the door for her and said with his signature grin, "After you, my lady." _He's so sweet._

She climbed inside the shadowy interior of the presidential limo, scooting herself to the left-most side. It smelled like smoke. When her foot came in contact with something hard she jumped up instinctively, hitting her head on the roof. She heard a snort. Through the shadows of the seats opposite to her emerged a face like none she had ever seen.

Blotchy red scars covered half of the face. It had no eyebrow on that side. She looked to see whom the face belonged to. Dark brown scruff and straggly hair made the man look nothing like the clean and professional agents she had seen outside, but he was wearing the same suit and had the same earpiece. She found herself staring solely at the scars – _they were just so ugly. _His eyes met hers, and she felt so uncomfortable that she averted her eyes to the floor.

"Watch yourself, girl," the man said with disdain before taking a pull from his cigarette.

"Sorry, sir, I didn't see you, I didn't mean to-"

"Dog, I thought I told you not to smoke in the car?" interrupted Joffrey, who had just sat beside Sansa.

"Sorry, of course." She could hear the man roll his eyes. He threw it nonchalantly out the cracked window.

Joffrey looked at Sansa. "This is my personal bodyguard, you can call him Dog."

"Your name is Dog?" She said softly, looking up once more at his hideous face, but never meeting his eyes.

"Of course his real name isn't Dog," Joffrey scoffed. "It's what we call him. That or the Hound. It's suiting, don't you think?" Joffrey said, chuckling.

She turned red once again. _I'm so stupid. _She didn't know what to say. She simply smiled at Joffrey, which seemed to make him laugh even more.

She felt the car begin to move – the other agents must be in the driver and passenger seats behind the dark glass where the Hound sat. She sat awkwardly during the drive, making sure she didn't make eye contact with the terrible face. He was looking out the window, a bored expression on his face. But she could still feel his dark eyes through her skin, staring and staring at her. _He's probably just angry that I tripped on his foot. That's all. I'll apologize later. _She played nervously with the pearls around her neck. They reminded her of her father.

"Dog, open the divider," Joffrey said after a period of silence. He obeyed, and revealed the back of the heads of the other two agents.

"Meryn, put on the satellite," he said. He turned to Sansa. "What type of music do you like?"

"Um…well my favorite singer is Taylor Swift," she said, a bit embarrassed, still playing with the beads around her neck. Joffrey looked like he was trying to suppress laughter. She thought she heard another snort come from Dog.

"Put on the country station," Joffrey ordered. "Hopefully Taylor will come on at some point then." He smiled at her with his mischievous look. He felt her heart flutter. _Please like me, Joffrey. _Soon enough the car came to a stop. "We're here," Joffrey stated.

The Hound opened the door and stepped out, moving to the opposite side to open the door for Joffrey. He slid out, passing the man who was holding the door and began walking towards the house. He turned around and waved for Sansa to follow him.

Sansa stepped out of the car, trying not to look at the Hound. But her curiosity had he best of her: the man was extremely tall – she could tell that from him sitting in the car. He looked very strong as well. His face was emotionless. She realized he was waiting for her move so he could shut the door. She moved forward a few steps and he pushed the door into place.

When he turned around she was still standing there, looking timidly up at him, but never directly in the eyes.

"Um… Sir…about before, I apologize," she stammered, her face returning to the deep red that it had been for most of the afternoon.

He looked her up and down, which made her eyes go to the ground once more. When he didn't say anything, she looked up.

"Spare me, kid. Hurry up he's waiting for you," he said irritably, walking away from her.

She followed behind him, feeling extremely embarrassed for what was probably the thousandth time today. She saw Joffrey impatiently looking at his watch. Looking up, she took in how big the White House truly was. _It's so beautiful. _She was knocked out of her reverie when the Hound stopped suddenly. _Please don't hurt me_, she thought.

He turned his head so that she could only see the burnt side of his face.

"And don't ever call me sir again."

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**Suspend your disbelief a bit when reading the political stuff haha. What do you guys think? Let me know if you'd like me to continue. **

**REVIEW PLEASE I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER**


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